7 NBA head coaches who should already be on the hot seat

It's early, but some teams are underachieving

We're almost 40 percent of the way through the 2016-17 NBA season, and for a handful of teams, it's already become clear that things aren't working.

Some of that falls on the head coach, of course, and here are seven guys who should be feeling some warmth beneath their respective seats on the bench -- even if there's little chance that some of these teams make a coaching change before the season is finished.

Alvin Gentry, New Orleans Pelicans

The Pelicans are finally starting to get healthy, and have currently won three straight. That puts them at just 13-21 on the season, however, afer finishing last year 30-52 and 11 games out of the playoffs.

The troubles in New Orleans are certainly not all Gentry's fault, considering he entered this season with a roster that was objectively worse than the injury-ravaged one he managed last year. The only way the Pelicans make a change is if Anthony Davis begins to lose interest under Gentry's watch, which doesn't seem to be happening just yet.

One positive to note: The mess at the bottom of the West means that despite the Pelicans' early struggles, they're just two games back of the eighth and final playoff spot in the conference.

Nate McMillan, Indiana Pacers

Nate McMillan is in his first year as head coach in Indiana, which almost certainly guarantees that he'll finish the season with the team.

But the Pacers have gotten off to a slower-than-expected 15-18 start, and the franchise superstar, Paul George, is growing increasingly frustrated with how the season is playing out.

George is under contract for one more season after this one, however, so McMillan (and the Pacers' front office) still have some time to turn things around before their best player can choose to leave in free agency.

AP

Brett Brown, Philadelphia 76ers

The roster in Philadelphia and the decision to Trust The Process by the team's previous general manager are certainly not Brown's fault, and as long as his players don't begin to tune him out, he should be secure for at least another season.

But there's no denying the fact that Philadelphia (at 7-24) has the worst record in the league once again, even now that Joel Embiid, Jahlil Okafor and Nerlens Noel are all healthy enough to play a reasonable amount of minutes.

Stan Van Gundy, Detroit Pistons

Van Gundy is also the president of basketball operations in Detroit, and there's almost zero chance the Pistons ownership goes for a total reset -- at least in the middle of the season.

But the Pistons are struggling at 15-19, and Van Gundy seems increasingly frustrated by the fact that he's been unable to make the pieces fit on anything close to a consistent basis.

Earl Watson, Phoenix Suns

Watson, in his first full season as head coach, should be in absolutely no danger of losing his job. The roster is a poorly-constructed mix of veteran talent and young players who need minutes to develop, and while the playoffs may have been a distant goal early on, it's become clear that at 10-23, Phoenix will almost certainly miss the postseason for a seventh straight year.

If there's one red flag under Watson's watch, it's that the Suns' offense is dead last in the league in assists per game -- a sign that there's been a lack of creativity in crafting sets that put his players in the best possible positions to consistently get easy looks.

NBAE/Getty ImagesBarry Gossage

Tom Thibodeau, Minnesota Timberwolves

Like Van Gundy, Thibodeau is also the president of basketball operations, and the team isn't making any major shakeup, especially in the middle of his first season in Minnesota.

The defensive-minded Thibodeau, however, has yet to get his team on the same page: The Timberwolves rank just 26th in the league in defensive efficiency, and their 10-22 start is only a half-game better than the two teams sitting at the bottom of the standings in the Western Conference.

Fred Hoiberg, Chicago Bulls

The problem with Hoiberg is that we don't yet know if he's a capable head coach at the professional level; he was hired due to his strong work in the college game, not because he had already proven himself in the NBA.

Jimmy Butler clashed with Hoiberg last season, and after a surprisingly solid start this year, the Bulls have come crashing back to Earth, and have done so with some embarrasing performances.